Sunday, August 23, 2015

The trouble with triffids

My son wanted to visit the Grey Matter Bookstore here in Western Massachusetts (very nice collection!) and it was there that I picked up from the "Staff Recommendations" table "The Day of the Triffids."

I finished this 1951 sci-fi classic over the weekend and...it was good but not terrific (pardon the pun).  Set in England, a cataclysm makes most of the world blind opening the door for a species of flesh-eating plants to take control.  What I found interesting about this work of fiction is how many aspects of it were co-opted into other sci-fi works.

Here's a partial list off the top of my head:

Blindness by Jose Saramago - everybody in the world goes blind
Guy wakes up alone in a hospital - "28 Days Later" and "The Walking Dead."
Man-eating plant - "Little Shop of Horrors"
Implacable, unstoppable, masses of semi-sentient beings looking to feast on human flesh - every zombie movie
Mysterious disease kills everyone - "The Last Ship" and "The Stand."
You ladies better have some babies to save the species - "The Handmaid's Tale" and "Seveneves."

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